Rindu........!!!

As I was telling my colleague that I missed PD a lot, these emails were flying around..

From: Farhana SRCPD-DMA/433
Sent: Friday, October 17, 2014 10:13 AM
To: Azita A SPDC-UIO/G/SHMP; Sakina NS SDIUS-DMH/DFS
Subject: whats for dinner?

Assalamualaikum,

Semalam I made tuna spageti for dinner, konon western kannnn and then thought of you two kat perantauan, apa agaknya korang makan eh for dinner J

How are u girls? Ramai kawan dah di sana? Your house/apartment cantikkkk sangat :D semoga sentiasa dirahmati Allah di sana….

Rindu you two J take good care ok.

Regards,

Farhana 

Environmental Technologist

Shell Refining Company (Federation of Malaya) Berhad

Batu 1, Jalan Pantai, 71000 Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan

Fax: +6 06 647 2014 Softphone: +606 648 52 65

From: Azita A SPDC-UIO/G/SHMP
Sent: Friday, October 17, 2014 7:20 AM
To: Farhana SRCPD-DMA/433; Sakina NS SDIUS-DMH/DFS
Subject: RE: whats for dinner?

Waalaikumsalam warahmatullah….

Aaawwwww…..rasa cam nak nangis baca email ni tau.. J my dinner repertoire for now is pajeri nenas, ayam masak kicap, sup ayam, daging masak halia…hehehe.. rajin sgt masak sebab tak boleh tapau.

Nak buat mcm mana.. kalau tapau takat pizza ja boleh makan, memang x leh selalu la..hehehe..

Kawan…? Hhmmm.. PD gak best L sini mostly families, and single people pon mostly keep to ourselves most of the time, unless nak join mat saleh2 tu lepak kat bar…I am very much confined inside the house now.. alhamdulillah rumah cantik..hehehe..so tak la depress sangat dok terkurung dlm rumah..

Memang tiap2 hari masak la ni for dinner? Untungla rhemy…hehehe…

Rgds,

Azita

Process Safety Advisor

Waalaikumussalam Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh J

Terharu Farhana you teringatkan I here, missssssss you ladies sooooo much too! L Hopefully both of you are well in Malaysia and Nigeria J

Farhana, Remy might have told you this, but I baru je borak with him semalam via IM while he was having telecom with Houston J

For now, I am still kelam kabut settling down – adjusting to work, locking down renting an apartment and habis stressed out looking to buy/lease a car (sebab I am returning the car like next Thursday tapi sampai skrg tak jumpa kete nak beli/lease lagi)!

Work-wise:

Takat ni, all I do is read background standards/statisctics/info, practicing how to utilize Pivot Table in Excel to help on Data Analysis. But the one that tires the most me here is having to adjust to not moving around as much as when I was in the refinery (and I don’t even know if that’s a good or bad thing!). Here orang start kerja at 7 and balik at 5. I start at 7.45 balik 5.45 pun considered lambat already!

My colleagues (from different parts of the world) all remarked saying that I am brave to have driven 8 miles to work every day after I arrived, and do things on my own! They were worried I’ll get stressed up adjusting, but when they heard me – they said I sounded happy. Hahah.

P/S: I even scratched my rented car on the first day sebab tak biasa left hand side drive :P What’s funny is when I informed the Rental Company, they were like, “As long as it does not involve another car and you’re not bothered with the scratch, you can continue using the car – Shell paid for the insurance already anyway :P

Life wise:

Kawan wise:

Memang tak ramai, no lunch kaki yet except my Co Line Manager here if he IS here! (he works from home) L All on my floor are “oldies” (above 35 ish) – and Americans are a bit weird, they can ask you “How are you?” and just walk off without waiting for your answer. Like what my German Lady Line Manager said, “They will smile at you, because if they don’t they’ll lose their jobs.” – I.e., insincere. They eat lunch at their desks, and they all eat sandwiches je!

Lonely la here, at least for now. I met a Muslimah while praying at the surau last week – hari ni will catch with her, hopefully she’ll be my lunch buddy J Outside work, Asmaziah introduced me to 3 other single ladies – working in Hess, MIDA and SBM Offshore. I would kadang2 have dinner with them to borak.

Makan-wise:

I am getting sick of eating seafood and vege for lunch, so what I do is, I either skip lunch (if I malas turun to beli sandwich) or I bawak roti from home. Malam ada freedom nak cari makanan halal – so Asmaziah’s single lady friend sometimes ajak dinner at Middle Eastern/Indian/Malaysian/Indonesian restaurant (Sini kedai nama “Malaysian Mamak Restaurant” is not halal – they serve bak kut teh jugak if I am not mistaken L)

There is halal marts here, one of it that I went once is “Jerusalem Halal Market” – mostly middle eastern ingredients, but that’s OK. I cook more often now, senangnya Nasi Goreng – later when I move in to my apartment next Friday, I’ll load up my fridge more and start cooking more “complicated stuff” haha.

Everything else wise:

Barang2 sini all are subjected to tax (8.25%) PLUS you have to give Tips (10-15% of overall bill) when at restaurants/taxi/services. And cars + rented apartments WAJIB ada insurance. And everything goes by 12-13 months contract, if you back out you’ll get termination fee which is a bomb. Everything’s complicated here – that makes me miss Malaysia more, flawed or whatever.

And here, orang bawak kereta all sambil tengok GPS! It’s literally so difficult to adhere to the Life Saving Rules here, sebab org potong masuk your lane tetiba, and they are sooooo aggressive in the driving! (Even a hantu driver like me can say this, bayangkan je la!) :P

Kesimpulan:

Living abroad really really really makes the peribahasa, “hujan emas di negeri orang, hujan batu di negeri sendiri, lebih baik di negeri sendiri” very valid and justified. I just miss everything about Malaysia, flaws and all – its straightforwardness in most affairs, its not too modernize nature (meaning still ada pasar basah, and can afford to be sloppy hehe), the warmth of the people (we’re literally like family in SRC!), my family, and you guys of course!

P/S:

Panjang la pulak cerita ni kan :P Rindu sangat33333 all of you!

Regards,

Sakina

Best Regards,

Sakina 

Downstream HSSE Projects Advisor,

Functional Services Focus Delivery Group,

Shell Downstream Inc.,
One Shell Plaza,

910 Louisiana St,

Houston Texas 77002, United States of America

Softphone: +1 (713) 241-4827

Email: N.Jalaludin@shell.com